(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're there in Ezekiel chapter 39, and we've been working our way through the book of Ezekiel on Wednesday nights, and this has been a very tough book at times to study and to learn and to apply. And if you remember last time we met, so last week we had our 4th of July service as far as our midweek service was. So the week before that we were in Ezekiel chapter 38, and if you remember, Ezekiel 38 and 39 are two chapters that deal with this prophetic battle of Gog and Magog. In a couple of weeks we studied chapter 38, tonight we're going to study chapter 39, but I'd like you to notice, keep your place there in Ezekiel 39, obviously after the text tonight, go to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 20, just real quickly. And I'm not going to re-preach the sermon from Ezekiel 38, if you missed it I would encourage you to find it on our website or our YouTube channel and listen to it, but I do want to just give you a little bit of review to just kind of remind you where we're at. In chapter 38 we saw, as we compared Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 20, we saw that the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38 and the Gog and Magog mentioned in Revelation 20 are the same Gog and Magog. This just makes sense because of the fact that they're both called the battles of Gog and Magog, but today you have these teachers who teach dispensationalism, who teach the pre-tribulation rapture, and they'll say that the Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39 and the Gog and Magog in Revelation 20 are two different Gog and Magog battles, that they're not the same, that they don't correspond to each other. So last time we were studying Ezekiel, we looked at the fact that these are the same event, they're the same, and we just compared the Scriptures. We just went back and forth between Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 20 and looked at it. And if you remember, and again, I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but we looked at the context of both battles, and what we found is that both battles had the same context. If you're there in Revelation 20, just real quickly look down at verse number one, Revelation 20 and verse one, the Bible says this, And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. So we are coming out of the battle of Armageddon, which is Revelation 19, and at the end of the battle of Armageddon, the Bible tells us that the devil, the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, Satan, he's bound for a thousand years after the battle of Armageddon. And then, of course, we go from that into the millennial reign. Notice verse three, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till, notice, till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season. So what happens? Verse four, And I saw thrones, and they set upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded, for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or on their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. So the context we see, as far as the battle of Gog and Magog in the book of Revelation, what we see is that you have the battle of Armageddon, Revelation 19, and then Satan is bound for a thousand years, and he's cast into the bottomless pit, and while he's bound for a thousand years, the millennial reign of Christ takes place for that thousand years where believers and saints reign with Christ for a thousand years. And then at the end of the millennial reign, if you look at verse seven there, Revelation chapter 20, the Bible says this, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are on the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. So it's very clear in Revelation what the context of this battle is, and it's important because today, when you listen to prophetic teachers, and if you go to the Christian bookstore and you try to get prophetic writings on the battles of Gog and Magog, people try to act like this is something that's going to happen today. And this is what dispensationalists teach, this is what the pre-tribulation rapture people teach. They'll say that Gog and Magog, this battle, is something that could happen right now. And they'll say it's Russia, they'll say it's whatever. It's China, it's North Korea, it's Germany. You don't really hear the Germany thing anymore since the Cold War ended, I guess, or since the war came down. They'll act like these are nations, that these are events that could take place today, but it's really clear when you look at Revelation that this is a battle that takes place after the thousand-year reign of Christ, the millennial reign. So you'll have people that'll go back to Ezekiel 38 and 39 and say, well, then that's not the same event that happened in Revelation 20, even though they're both called the Battle of Gog and Magog. Now again, we don't have time to develop the entire book of Ezekiel, we've been studying through it week by week. But if you remember, in Ezekiel 36, we learned about the new covenant. In Ezekiel 37, we saw the rapture, I mean, we saw the resurrection of the dead. And then in Ezekiel 38, we have the Battle of Gog and Magog, that fits the same lineage, the same context, the same chronology of Revelation, where it's end times prophecy, it's in regards to end times. So when we look at the context or the chronology, we find that it's the same event. And then if you remember, and again, I just want to remind you of these things so you can kind of... Because I know we took a week off so we can jump into chapter 39. But then when we see the correlation between the two chapters, and again, I won't take the time to go through it, but we spent all last week looking at it and comparing them. And here's what we saw in both chapters, in Ezekiel 38 and in Revelation 20. We saw a confederacy of nations coming against the people of God. We saw the people of God dwelling in safely and carelessly in the land, because they're living through the millennial reign. And then we saw God defeating the confederacy of nations by a consuming fire. So look, when you look at the chapters, it's very clear that these are talking about the same thing. And you might be wondering, why are you doing this review, or why are you saying that? Here's why I'm saying that. Because we go into chapter 39 with that understanding. We go into chapter 39 with that assumption. If you're listening to this sermon tonight, maybe you're watching on YouTube or whatever, and you're hoping that I will prove to you that Ezekiel 38, 39 have to do with Revelation 20. That sermon's already been preached. It was Ezekiel 38. You can go back and listen to it. We're going into Ezekiel 39 understanding that. And here's the reason why. Tonight, as we study Ezekiel 39, what we get is we get additional information about the prophetic battle of Gog and Magog. So I'm not going to spend time proving to you that it is the event that happens in Revelation, although we'll, of course, there's going to be overlap, and we'll look at that. But what we get in chapter 39 is just additional information. Chapter 38, when you compare it to Ezekiel 20, excuse me, Revelation 20, it becomes very clear that it's the same battle. It's the same event. It's the same prophetic Gog and Magog battle. In chapter 39, we get additional information. Now, a lot of people have problems with this additional information because they'll say, well, it's not found in Revelation. And here's what you need to understand kind of as we get into Ezekiel 39, and this is kind of the last introductory statement I'll make if you want to make your way back to Ezekiel 39, and it is this, when you are studying the book of Revelation, you need to realize that the book of Revelation is giving you highlights. It's kind of hitting all of the highlights of the end times event, and when we get to Ezekiel, and here's the point, when we read about the battle of Gog and Magog in the book of Revelation, chapter 20, there's three verses devoted to the battle of Gog and Magog. When we study it in the book of Ezekiel, you have two complete chapters. So it makes sense that you're going to have more information, more details, more things that are described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 in two complete chapters devoted to this battle versus the three verses that are given about it in the book of Revelation. You say, again, why is it that Revelation only gives you three verses? Here's why. Because Revelation is just giving you the highlights. It's giving you all of the kind of just hitting every main event of end times, but it's not giving you every little detail that you find that's going to happen in end times events. All right? So with that understanding, let's dig into Ezekiel 39, and let's look at these additional details that are given. The first one is this. We get details about the battle itself, the battle of Gog and Magog. Look at verse one. Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshach and Tubal, and I will turn thee back and leave but the sixth part of thee and will cause thee to come up from the north part and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel. Notice verse three. And I will smite the bow out of thy left hand and will cause thine arrows to fall out of the right hand. The first detail we get about this battle is that it is a very decisive victory. It's not like there's any question about who's going to win this battle or how it's going to happen. In fact, God says that he smites them, meaning he hits them, and when he hits them, their weapons literally fall out of their hands. He says, I'm going to smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and I'm going to cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Notice verse four. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel and all thy bands and the people that is with thee, and I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort. We're going to come back to that phrase later on in the sermon. And to the beast of the field to be devoured, notice verse five, thou shalt fall upon the open field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. So God says, look, when this battle takes place, he basically just has a decisive victory. He beats them. And here's what you need to understand. There's going to be dead bodies, corpse laying all over the place, and there's going to be weapons laying all over the place. This is a theme we find in chapter 39, and he brings it up in the first few verses. He said, I'm going to smite the bow out of thy left hand and the arrows out of thy right hand. You're going to fall, and thou shalt fall upon the open field. There's going to be bodies, there's going to be corpses all over the place, and there's going to be weapons all over the place. And how is this decisive victory given? Well, in verse six, and I will send a fire on Magog. God destroys them by fire. It's a decisive victory by fire. And among them that dwell carelessly in the isles, and they shall know that I am the Lord. And if you look back just real quickly to Ezekiel 38 and verse 22, you'll find that this is what Ezekiel tells us about this victory. This is a major characteristic is that God consumes them, that God destroys them, that God gives a decisive victory by fire. Notice Ezekiel 38 verse 22, and I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood and with rain upon him and upon his bands and upon the many people that are with him and overflowing rain and great hailstones. Notice fire and brimstone. If you kept your place in Revelation 20, now I'd encourage you to put a ribbon or a bookmark there because we're going to go back and forth a little bit, but if you go back to Revelation 20 and look at verse 9, notice what the Bible says, Revelation 20 and verse 9, it says, And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, notice what it says, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. So notice today you've got people, and they'll say, well, the Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39 and the Gog and Magog in Revelation 20, they're not the same Gog and Magog. But it's funny because they're both a confederacy of nations coming up against the children of Israel. They're both coming against the people of God while they're living in peace, and they both get consumed by fire. So when you compare it and you look at it, it's very clear that this is the same event. Now again, let me answer some of the questions for you. People will have problems with this because we just read in Ezekiel 38, 22, where it says that it wasn't just fire and brimstone. He says that I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood and will reign upon him and upon his bands and upon many people that are with him and overflowing rain and great hailstone and fire and brimstone. And people will say, well, none of that's mentioned in Revelation 20, so this must not be the same battle. But look, just because Revelation 20 doesn't mention the blood and the rain and the pestilence, don't let that bother you that, well, it's not mentioned in Revelation 20. Keep in mind, Ezekiel gives us two full chapters describing this battle, Revelation, John, in the book of Revelation, gives us three verses. So he's just giving us the highlights, and look, here's the highlight. If you want to know, if you're going to give the highlight as to what won this battle, when God pours fire down from heaven and consumes them, that's the highlight. That fire came down from God out of heaven, that is what he gives, and that is what he tells. Just because you give a description and you leave something out of the description doesn't mean that you're giving a totally different description. And I've heard this illustration before, I thought it was a good illustration. If somebody was going to describe me tonight and somebody said, oh, well, he's wearing a shirt and a tie. And then somebody else said, well, Pastor Manner's wearing a shirt and a tie and a coat. Was the first guy lying? Just because he maybe left something out of that description doesn't mean that I wasn't wearing a shirt and a tie. So they'll use those things and say, well, these can't be talking about the same battle. Look, you got fire coming down from heaven, it's the same battle. So we see the battle of Gog and Magog, but let's talk about the aftermath of Gog and Magog. Now, here's a lot of details that are given in Ezekiel that are not given in the book of Revelation. Notice what it says, and these are really interesting details. The first detail is this, that after the battle of Gog and Magog, the people of earth are going to spend seven years burning the weapons, because remember, God said that when he smites them, he's going to cause their weapons to fall out of their hands. And there's going to be so many weapons throughout the entire world, or this entire battlefield, but it's going to be everywhere, that the Bible tells us that they're going to spend seven years actually burning the weapons and using the weapons as a source of fuel. Notice what the Bible says, Ezekiel 39, verse 7. So will I make my holy name to be known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let them pollute my holy name anymore, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, it is come and it is done, saith the Lord God, this is the day whereof I have spoken, verse 9, and they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, notice what it says, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bow and the arrows and the handstaves and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years. So here the Bible tells us that they're going to take all these weapons and they're going to use them as a source of fuel, and it's going to take them seven years to burn up all these weapons. And here's what's interesting to me, is that today you have the dispensationalists who will try to use the fact that there's all these details that are different, that are given differently, and say, well, because of these details, these battles can't be talking about the same thing. So here's what they'll say. They'll say Revelation 20 is about a battle after the millennial reign, but Ezekiel 38 and 39, that's about a battle that takes place in connection to the tribulation. Let me just read for you from an article here called, this was written by pre-tribbers, what are Gog and Magog? Here's what they said. They said Gog and Magog are referred to in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and in Revelation 20, 7 and 8. Notice what they say. They say while these two instances carry the same names, a closed study of scripture clearly demonstrates they do not refer to the same people and event. In Ezekiel's prophecy, Gog will be the leader of a great army that attacks the land of Israel. Gog is described as one of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh Meshach, and Tubal, Ezekiel 38, 2, and 3. Notice what they say. Ezekiel's battle of Gog and Magog, as opposed to Revelation's battle of Gog and Magog, occurs in the tribulation period, more specifically in the first three and a half years. Now, when you talk to pre-tribbers, they're going to tell you different things. Some people will say that it happens before the tribulation. Other people say it happens right after the tribulation. These people are saying it happens during the tribulation, but they'll all connect this battle to the tribulation period. And if you've ever watched that old Left Behind movie, which I'm not recommending and I'm not telling you to watch it, but if you've ever watched that old Left Behind movie with Kirk Cameron, the movie starts with the battle of Gog and Magog. So in that movie, they're teaching that Gog and Magog happens before the rapture, and then you go into the tribulation period. So here's what's interesting. They'll say Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 39 are not the Gog and Magog in Revelation because it would be ridiculous to connect the two and have a pre-tribulation rapture stance because it's so clear in Revelation that the battle takes place after the millennial reign. So they'll say Gog and Magog, that's common names, that's just a coincidence, right? Like those are just names that are just common names that everybody has. But they'll say the battle in Ezekiel 30 and 39, that is not a revelation. That happens during the tribulation. And they'll say, and here's how we know, because all the details, because all these other details are given that aren't given in the three verses of Revelation 20. Well here's what's funny about that. Look at the details. Here's a major detail given about the battle of Gog and Magog is that they're gonna set on fire and burn the weapons and they shall burn them with fire seven years. Now look, if it was true, if it was true that the battle of Gog and Magog takes place either before, during, or right after the tribulation period, do you think anybody's gonna be burning weapons during the tribulation period? I mean, either based by the biblical tribulation period, which is actually the persecution of saints, or the pre-tribber tribulation definition. Either definition, look, here's the point of the tribulation time. It's going to be a time of trouble. It's going to be a time of great war. The Bible makes it clear in Matthew 24 and Revelation 6, no matter how you look at the tribulation period, there's going to be world wars, nations are gonna rise against nations, you're gonna hear wars and rumors of war. So look, if there's war all over the world, why would the nation of Israel be burning up weapons? You'd think they'd be stocking up weapons. Okay? Look, by their own logic, they'll say, oh, the details tell us that this happens during the tribulation. But then you look at the details and you're like, that doesn't make any sense. Tribulation period is the time of war. They're gonna, the anti-Christ is gonna be out conquering and to conquer, the Bible says. So it doesn't make sense that Ezekiel 39 is talking about a battle that is connected to the tribulation period, when they're burning up weapons during that time. But you know what does make sense? It makes sense that they're burning up weapons after the millennial reign, right before they go into the eternal state, right before, you know, once God has destroyed them all. So that is, you know, so even using their own logic doesn't make sense and to connect this battle to the tribulation period. Now, here's another detail that is given to us in Ezekiel 39 that is not given in the book of Revelation. Look at verse 10, so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forest, for they shall burn the weapons. So notice, they're not taking any wood, they're not bringing out any, there's no need for fuel because they're burning the weapons with fire, and they shall spoil those that spoil them and rob those that rob them, saith the Lord God. Verse 11, and it shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto God a place there of graves in Israel. Because if you remember the first few verses we read in Ezekiel 39, he said, when I smite you, I'm gonna smite the bow out of thy left hand and the arrows out of the right hand. He said, I'm gonna leave your weapons on the ground. And then we find out how many weapons they left because they spent seven years burning the weapons. But then he also says, I'm gonna leave you on the open field. And notice, again, this is something that's emphasized about this battle is that there are corpses everywhere. Notice what it says, verse 11, and it shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto God a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers of the east of the sea, and it shall stop the nose of the passengers, and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall call it the valley of Hamon Gog. How long are they gonna be buried? Because he told us they're gonna be burning weapons for seven years. How long are they gonna be burying bodies for? Verse 12, and seven months shall the house of Israel be bearing of them, that they may cleanse the land, yea, all the people of the land shall bury them, and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. So notice, here are the details. They're gonna spend seven years burning the weapons after this battle. They're gonna spend seven months burying the bodies after the battle. And you say, well, why is it that it takes seven years to burn the weapons and it takes seven months to bury the bodies? Well, the answer is in verse 11, if you go back to it, notice what it says, and it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto God the place thereof of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers of the east of the sea. Here's the answer. And it shall stop the noses of the passengers. You say, why did they hurry up and bury the bodies? Because bodies stink, all right, because they stink. So they're, you know, burying where the weapons, they're just using them for fuel, so it takes them seven years. But notice what it says in verse 14. This is how many bodies there are. And they shall sever out men of continual employment passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth to cleanse it after the end of seven months shall they search. He's saying, there's gonna be people whose full-time job, they're gonna find people, men of continual employment, their full-time job is to find bodies, bury bodies, find bodies, bury bodies, find bodies, bury bodies. And it gets kind of gruesome, look at verse 15. And the passengers that pass through the land, when any see it, so it's gonna be so bad that just normal people just on their journey, going to work, doing whatever, when they're just passing through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, they're just going about their business, they just happen to be walking by the park and, oh, there's somebody's bone sticking out of the ground. He says, when any man seeeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, I don't know, they're gonna put a cone there, I'm not sure, they're gonna put some sort of a flag there, till the barriers have buried it in the valley of Haman Gog, and also the name of the city shall be called Hamona, thus shall they cleanse the land. So notice, they're going to be burying bodies for seven months, they're going to be burning weapons for seven years, and these are additional details that are given. Now, keep your place there in Ezekiel, go back to Revelation 20, and let me deal with another pre-trib argument against Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38, 39 being the same Gog and Magog of Revelation 20. This details, or these details about the burying of the bodies taking seven months and the burning of the weapons taking seven years, this is actually another argument that the pre-tribbers give, and they'll use this information, and they'll say, well, look, this proves that this can't be part, that this can't be the same battle of Revelation chapter 20, and here's their argument. Their argument is this, that in Revelation 20, if you read it, it teaches that, now this is not true, okay, but I'm just gonna give you their wording, they'll tell you that Revelation 20 teaches that immediately after the battle of Gog and Magog, we have the great white throne, so therefore, you're not gonna have seven months to bury bodies, you're not gonna have seven years to burn weapons, so they'll say, this proves that this is not the same event. Now, look, this does not disprove the true teaching of Gog and Magog, which is that it happens both in Ezekiel and Revelation, it happened after the millennial reign. You say, well, how do you answer? Well, here's how we answer it, Revelation has not given you a detailed moment-by-moment account, it has given you the highlights of the end times events, so look at Revelation 20, and look at verse number 10, and the devil that deceived them, you know, just to get a little context, look at verse 8, and shall go out to deceive the nations, right, which are in the four quarters of the earth, this is after Satan gets loose from the bottom of his pit. Gog and Magog together them together to battle, the number of whom is the sand of the sea, right, that's our confederacy of nations, and they went up on the breadth of the earth, encompassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, right, that's them attacking the people of God, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beasts and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever, verse 11, and immediately after the battle, I saw a great white throne, is that what it says? It doesn't say it happens just immediately, 30 minutes later, you know in the book of Revelation there are times where he tells us by the space of half an hour, where it will give you a specific deal, it will say 30 minutes go by, and then this happens, it will tell you immediately, right, Matthew 24, immediately after the tribulation of those days, look, the Bible doesn't shy away from telling you when something happens right after something else, here in Revelation 21, he doesn't say, he just says, look, he tells you about Gog and Magog, and then he moves on to the next highlight, and I saw a great white throne, okay, John has, he just has a few verses to give you kind of the highlights, so he leaves out the part about the weapons being burned for seven years, and the bodies being buried for seven months, he leaves out all the little details, he just says, look, there's gonna be a battle, fire's gonna come down from heaven, and then the next main event will be the great white throne, and I saw the great white throne, him that sat on him, from whose face the earth and the heavens flowed away, and there was found no place for them, and people say, oh, no, no, it's very, it has to just follow the guidelines given in Revelation 20, but look, if you look at the guidelines, the chronology given in Revelation 20, you'll find that it's a very loose, just kind of highlights of what things are going on, let me prove it to you, look at verse seven, and when the thousand years are expired, okay, because remember, where we saw that, the battle of Armageddon, the devil gets bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, all right, during that thousand years you have the millennial reign of Christ, and then in verse seven the Bible says, and when the thousand years are expired, what does the word expired mean? It means to come to an end, when they are terminated, so notice what it says, when the thousand years are expired, when the thousand years come to an end, when the thousand years are terminated, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is at the sands of the sea, here's what's interesting, all throughout the Bible we learn about this millennial reign of Christ, we even read in Revelation that they rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years, but then when you look at it and you think about it, you realize that this time frame takes longer than a thousand years, because Satan doesn't even get loosed from the bottomless pit till the thousand years are expired, well then after he gets loosed, now he's going around, now he's going around to deceive the nations, now he's going around to gather them, now he's going around to motivate them to mobilize them before the battle is over, now look, we already found out that once this battle is over, there's enough weapons left over for them to burn them as fuel for seven years, so how long do you think it took for them to get all that accumulated? I mean, they had to get organized, they had to organize this thing, get all these weapons, look, when you look at Revelation, you have to realize that it's giving you highlights, it's not giving you these very specific details, because it's three verses, it's a few verses telling you these things, but then when you look at it in Ezekiel and you're reading two complete chapters about this, he gives you more details, so this idea that, well, they're not going to have time to bury bodies for seven months, they're not going to have time to destroy weapons for seven years, because the great white throne happens immediately after the battle of Gogregoth, number one, you made that up, because it doesn't say that, it says, and I saw a great white throne, he's just telling you the next major event is the great white throne, because John is just, he's saying, look, there's a tribulation, there's this, there's that, he's giving you all of these highlights. So here's what we've seen, we saw some details about the battle itself, Gogregoth, then we saw some details about the aftermath of the battle of Gogregoth, but just kind of by just my third point tonight, and we'll take a little bit of time on this, let's talk about the feast of Gogregoth and Magog, if you can make your way back, now keep your place there in Revelation, because we're going to come back to it, but go back to Ezekiel 39, and let me just explain something to you, and I don't have time to really go through and give you all these passages, so you'll just have to study these out on your own if you'd like. And I mentioned this last time we were in Ezekiel, but when you read these end times passages, you'll find that God follows these patterns, the Bible talks about the fact that God wants everything to be done decently and in order. And what you'll find is that the millennial reign, that thousand year reign of Christ, it's book-ended by similar things, there's things that happen as we go into the millennial reign of Christ, and then there's very similar things that happen as we come out of the millennial reign of Christ. And let me just give you some of these, and you can study this out on your own if you'd like, it'd be a good end times prophecy homework if you want to study these things out. But the millennial reign of Christ, it's book-ended by two major battles. Nobody thinks that the battle of Gog and Magog and the battle of Armageddon are the same battle. And in fact, if you look at Revelation 19, which we'll look at here in a minute, you'll find that the battle of Armageddon is ascribed, then we have the millennial reign, then we have the battle of Gog and Magog. So you'll notice that the millennial reign is book-ended by two major battles. One is a battle of Armageddon going into the millennial reign, and one is a battle of Gog and Magog coming out of the millennial reign. But there's other events that book-end the millennial reign. It's not only book-ended by two battles, but it's also book-ended by two judgments. Now we read in Revelation 20 that not immediately after, right, but the next major event after the millennial reign and the battle of Gog and Magog is what? Is the great white throne. Now the great white throne, I preach sermons on this, I don't have time to develop this tonight. The great white throne is the judgment of unbelievers. Unsafe people will stand before God and they'll be condemned for the lake of fire for all eternity. Here's what's interesting. The millennial reign has a judgment that happens right as we enter the millennial reign. And that's called the judgment seat of Christ. Now it's not mentioned in the book of Revelation, but we know that it happens right before the millennial reign, and here's why. Because of the fact that the Bible is clear as you study about the judgment seat of Christ, that this is where believers, saved people, will stand before God and the things that were done in our body will be judged. We're not going to be judged as far as whether we go to heaven or not. We're not going to be judged for our sins because our sins have been paid for, they've been forgotten, but we will be judged for what we did with our lives, how we stewarded the resources that God gave us. And based on that judgment, then we will be rewarded. And how do we get rewarded? Well, we get to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years. So some people are going to rule over cities. Some people might rule over continents. Some of you might be the janitor. I don't know. But based on how good of a Christian you were, you're not going to go to heaven or hell, but you'll get rewarded as to how you reign with Christ. So look, that happens as we enter the millennial reign because that's where you're going to rule and reign with Christ for. That's where you're going to have your rewards for what you did in your body during your life. So here's what's interesting. Before we go into the millennial reign, we have the battle of Armageddon. Before we go into the millennial reign, we have the judgment seat of Christ. As we come out of the millennial reign, we have the battle of Gog and Magog. As we come out of the millennial reign, we have the judgment of the great white throne. So the millennial reign is bookended by two battles, Armageddon, Gog and Magog, and two judgments, the judgment seat of Christ and the great white throne. Now those are the major themes of end times prophecy. But let me give you just another thing that's highlighted here in Revelation 39. And both the beginning and the end of the millennial reign are also bookended by two major feasts. Now these feasts are connected to the battles, but I want you to understand that there is a very famous feast leading into the millennial reign called the marriage supper of the lamb. Let's look at it together. Revelation 19, and I want to make something extremely clear. This is not Gog and Magog. This is going into the millennial reign. Gog and Magog is after the millennial reign. But I want you to notice that there is a very famous feast that leads in to the millennial reign. You have the battle of Armageddon, you have the judgment seat of Christ, but you also have this marriage supper of the lamb. And you say, well, what is the marriage supper? What is it that the Bible tells us? And a lot of people have a lot of ideas about the marriage supper of the lamb. And I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I understand how it all works. But I can do this. I can read the Bible to you. We can just read the Bible and see what he says. Notice what he says in Revelation 19, verse 17. Remember, we have the battle of Armageddon. In the valley of Megiddo are going to be the nations of the earth, and they are gathered together to fight against Christ. Christ is coming. If you read Revelation 19, it's all very clear. Christ is coming with power and great glory. He's coming in his white horse, and he's coming with 10,000 of his saints. And he fights them. He opens his mouth, and he beats them with the sword of his mouth. Now you have all these dead bodies in the battle of Armageddon, in the valley of Megiddo. The Bible tells us that the blood runs up to the horse's bridle. Look at verse 17. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. Now notice, we're going into the millennial reign after the battle of Armageddon, and God calls all the fowls of the air to do what? To eat all these corpses of the nations coming against him during the battle of Armageddon. Look at verse 19. And I saw a beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image, these both were cast alive into the lake of fire and brimstone, and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, and with the sword which receded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. So going into the millennial reign, you have the battle of Armageddon, but then you had this feast, and he calls it here the supper of the great God. You have this feast where he calls all the fowls together, and he says, eat, eat these corpses. And then of course, you have the judgment seat of Christ, where we're given our rewards, and we go, and Satan's bound for a thousand years, and we go into the millennial reign. We come out of the millennial reign, you have the battle of Gog and Magog, we already read that we have the great white throne, but I want you to notice there's also a feast for the fowls of the air at the end of the millennial reign. Go back to Ezekiel 39. We're almost done. Look at what it says. Ezekiel 39 verse 4. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee, and I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Now look, go down to verse 17, and let me just say this, we're gonna read passages that sound a lot like the supper of the great God at the Battle of Armageddon, but these are not the same event. One is before the millennial reign, one is after. But they're very similar because of the fact that the millennial reign is bookended by very similar events. Look at verse 17. And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God, speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, assemble yourselves, and come, gather yourselves on every side, to my sacrifice, that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood, and ye shall eat the flesh of mighty men. Doesn't that sound like Revelation 19? And drink the blood of princes of the earth, and of rams, and lambs, and of goats, and of bullocks, and of fatlings of asian, and ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, for my sacrifice, which I have sacrificed for you. Notice verse 20. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God. So we come out of the millennial reign. We have a battle. We have a feast. We have a judgment. We go into the millennial reign. We have a battle. We have a feast. We have a judgment. And all of these events bookend the millennial reign of Christ. Now let me just show you one last thing and what we've done tonight. If you go back to Ezekiel 39, or you're there in Ezekiel 39. Let me get back to Ezekiel 39, because I left my place there. Ezekiel 39, and look at verse number 10. Just one last thought on this, and then we'll move on. And next week when we begin Ezekiel 40, we'll start a new passage, a new section of Ezekiel that has to do still with the end times, but it has to do with the eternal state and some prophecies in regards to that, excuse me, the millennial reign, and then there'll be eternal state in that as well. But look at Ezekiel 39, and look at verse number 10. Notice what the Bible says. So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither shall cut down any out of the forest, for they shall burn the weapons with fire, and they shall spoil those that spoiled them. I want you to notice that phrase. They shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God. And what's interesting is as you study the prophecies, and specifically end times prophecy in the Bible, you'll find that there's this constant theme in these prophecies, and we see it here in verse 10, where he says that they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them. And there's this theme as you study end times prophecy that at the end, when it's all said and done, there will be this final of making things right. In my life and in your life as Christians, we are called by God to kind of take a lot of persecution, to take a lot of wrong. Jesus taught us as New Testament believers that when someone smites us in our cheek, that we are not to seek revenge or to smite them back, but he says to turn the other cheek, right? I mean, this is a common theme you find throughout the Bible. He says, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you. Paul would echo these thoughts when he would say, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, rather give place to wrath. And he talked about the fact that God will avenge you one day, and God, but we're not supposed to, he tells us to overcome evil. He says, don't overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good. And he tells us to have love and mercy against others and to not revenge ourselves and to not avenge ourselves. He says, look, God will avenge you and God will avenge you. And here's what I'm telling you, in the Christian life, sometimes we put up with a lot of crap, for lack of better words, right? Paul would tell us, Paul would say, hey, why don't you suffer yourself to be defrauded? And oftentimes, if you live the Christian life the way you're supposed to, that's what you end up doing. People attack you, people lie about you, people say things that aren't true, and you say, what do you do? You turn the other cheek, you avenge not yourself, you give place to wrath, and people will say, ah, you're weak. It's funny, I get criticized for what I say, and I get criticized for what I don't say. I get criticized for the things I get involved in and the things I don't get involved in. And it's this idea where people are constantly doing you wrong, constantly doing you wrong, and you say, well, what do you do? Here's what you can take away. There's coming a day when God will make all things right, when God will settle the score. Well, God will avenge you, and he will make what you've gone through right. I was just talking to some guys last night. I was giving a little lesson on ministry and things. And I was telling them, look, I'm not trying to discourage you or sound like I'm discouraged or whatever, but I was telling them, look, every pastor, every pastor's wife at some point in their life seriously considers quitting the ministry. And if anybody tells you otherwise, they're lying to you. You say, why? Because it's hard sometimes, because it's difficult sometimes. You say, well, how do you get through it? Here's how you get through it. You realize that there's coming a day when God will make all things right. And today people will say, yeah, but they got away with it. They did this, and they did that, and they caused these problems, and they caused those problems, and they told these lies, and they told those lies. And people will get discouraged. They'll actually quit on God and say, well, I'm not going to go to church if those people can act that way. Nothing ever happens to them. But you know what? It's not your place to make judgment. It's God's. And God, the Bible says, God will make all things right in the end. He will make all things equal. He will make all things perfect. He will make sure that everybody gets, good or bad, what's coming to them. And there he says, look, they're going to spoil those and spoil them and rob those that robbed them. Because look, here's the point. I'd rather let God avenge me than myself, because God can do a better job than me. Here's why. Because God knows what they deserve, but you know what? God also knows what I deserve. And look, there's no better judge than God. So don't let you say, well, they're getting away with it. They said this, and they lied about that, and they're doing this, and I can't. Look, God will make all things right. And at the end of the day, you and I need to just be OK with that. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the Bible. Thank you for these prophecies that we can study, and even just some practical admonitions we can take back, realizing that you are the judge, and you will judge. And Lord, it just helps us to stay encouraged, as sometimes we take wrong, and we're done wrong, and it's hard. And Lord, I just pray that you would help us.